Box Scores Can Be Misleading

This past Thursday I played my second round game in the SWCC Joe Crothers Memorial Club Championship.

Looking at the box score you see that White beat Black and had a rating difference of +530 points. So clearly the game was a walk in the park.

Well, not so fast. There’s a reason why we play the games, and if you look at this game you’ll see that my opponent played way above his rating for most of the game.

[Event "SWCC Joe Crothers Memorial Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.07.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Wainscott, Chris"]
[Black "Sneshkoff, Ted"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "1790"]
[BlackElo "1260"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 e6 {At this point I was hit by two thoughts simultaneously.
One was &#8220;My opponent doesn&#8217;t seem to have a grasp on positional considerations.
&#8221; and the other was &#8220;Don&#8217;t get too overconfident as a result!&#8221;} 3. d4 d5 4. e3
Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Bd3 c6 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4 b5 9. Bd3 O-O 10. Ne5 Bb7 11. Qc2
Nbd7 12. Rd1 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Nd5 {Another great example of how I struggle with
visualization. I had just assumed that the knight would go back to d7. That
assumption is probably derived from the fact that in so many lines of the
French, which I used to play, that is exactly what happens. Nevertheless this
concerns me greatly (as it should) since I need to fix it.} 14. Be2 Nb4 15. Qe4
(15. Rxd8 Nxc2 16. Rxf8+ Kxf8 17. Rb1 {Black&#8217;s position seems much better here.
}) 15... Qe7 16. Bf3 Rfd8 17. a3 ({I spent 12 minutes deciding between the
move I played and this idea. But after some evaluation I realized that
Black&#8217;s position just looks too easy to play after} 17. Bd2 Rd7 18. Be1 Rad8)
17... Rxd1+ 18. Bxd1 (18. Nxd1 {I should have captured this way to keep
pressure on the long diagonal by continuing to restrict his ability to play &#8230;
c5.}) 18... Nd5 19. Bd2 Nxc3 {Again the positional understanding comes in to
play. This lets me off the hook by making it much simpler for me to solidify
my hold on the e5 pawn without having to play f4 until I really want to.} (
19... Rd8 {This would have started pressure building by making me watch out
for any tactical shots down the d file.}) 20. Bxc3 c5 21. Qf4 h6 (21... a5 {
Black&#8217;s plan should clearly be a breakthrough on the queenside since he has a
nice majority there. So this move seems to be far more consistent with that
plan that what was played.}) 22. Bc2 Qg5 $2 {This is really too bad. After
outplaying me through the earlier middlegame my opponent starts to go astray.
Now I see that my pawns should be un-doubled which gets me marching in the
right direction.} 23. Qxg5 hxg5 24. f4 gxf4 25. exf4 c4 {This makes the
possibility of the queenside breakthrough much more difficult by removing a
lot of flexibility from the pawns. Again it would be better to play} (25... a5
) 26. Rd1 Bh6 27. g3 Bf8 28. Rd7 $6 Bd5 ({After the game my opponent pointed
out that} 28... Bc5+ 29. Kf1 Bd5 {would have been more accurate and he is
absolutely correct.}) {Here I commit an inaccuracy with} 29. Ba5 $2 {My
thought here was to secure d8 so I can force a trade of rooks if needed, but
this still allows Black to take the a7-g1 diagonal with &#8230;Bc5+} (29. Bd4 {
This is a far better move as it attacks the a7 pawn and doesn&#8217;t allow the
Black bishop on the a7-g1 diagonal for the time being.} a6 30. Rc7 $11) 29...
a6 {Luckily my opponent misses the idea.} (29... Bc5+ $1) 30. Bb6 Rc8 31. Bd4
$2 (31. Kf2 {This would be much better since after my move in the game Black
missed &#8230;c3}) 31... Bc5 (31... c3 32. b3 Bxb3 33. Bxb3 c2 34. Bxc2 Rxc2 35.
Ra7 Rc4 36. Bf2 Ra4 $15) 32. Bxc5 Rxc5 33. Ra7 Rc6 34. Kf2 Rb6 ({During the
game I thought that this might peter out to a draw after} 34... c3 35. b3 (35.
b4 {This move I never considered until analyzing the game and it makes the
rest of the variation somewhat pointless.}) 35... Bxb3 36. Bxb3 c2 37. Bxc2
Rxc2+ 38. Kg1 Rb2 39. Rxa6 b4 40. axb4 Rxb4 {I would have pressed all night to
try to win this position, but this seems to be one of the &#8220;with proper play
it&#8217;s a draw&#8221; types of positions.}) 35. Ke1 b4 {Here my opponent offered me a
draw, but in a way that told me he didn&#8217;t have much faith here. He said &#8220;I
don&#8217;t supposed you&#8217;d take a draw would you?&#8221;} 36. Kd2 b3 $2 {And now my
worries ended. With my king able to get to c3 I figure that any chances my
opponent might have to break through are gone.} 37. Bd1 Rc6 38. Kc3 Rb6 39. Be2
(39. Rc7 {I believe this would have been more precise as the queenside pawns
would have easily fallen here since after Be2 there&#8217;s nothing Black can do to
prevent it.}) 39... Rc6 40. h4 Be4 41. h5 Bd3 42. Bf3 ({I considered} 42. Bxd3
cxd3+ 43. Kxd3 gxh5 44. Rb7 {but I felt that even though this position is
winning it would likely be easier to convert with the bishops on the board
than without them.}) 42... Rc8 43. hxg6 Bxg6 44. Rxa6 Bd3 ({This was the last
chance to resist. Black could have played} 44... Kg7 {which takes the forced
rook trade off the table.}) 45. Ra8 {The rest is technique.} Rxa8 46. Bxa8 Kg7
47. Bf3 f6 48. exf6+ Kxf6 49. a4 e5 50. fxe5+ Kxe5 51. a5 Be4 52. Bxe4 Kxe4 53.
a6 Kf3 54. a7 Kxg3 55. a8=Q Kf4 56. Kxc4 Ke5 57. Qd5+ Kf4 58. Qe6 1-0

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There are easily a couple of moments where I could have been held to a draw.